Farnborough, UK: Raytheon and a U.S. Navy team used a combined-beam fiber laser to shoot down four unmanned aerial vehicles in flight during an over-the-water engagement.

The UAV targets were engaged and destroyed using the Navy's Laser Weapon System guided by Raytheon's Phalanx Close-in Weapon System sensor suite. LaWS is made up of six industrial-use lasers that simultaneously focus on the target.

"These engagements validate the operational viability of the Phalanx-LaWS combination at sea," said Dr. Taylor W. Lawrence, president of Raytheon Missile Systems. "The Raytheon- Navy team demonstrated the systems' capability to detect, track, engage and defeat dynamic targets at tactically significant ranges in a maritime environment."

For the test, the LaWS was mounted on a stable platform close to the Phalanx Block 1B mount. The Phalanx operator used the Block 1B's surface mode to perform electro-optical tracking and the system's radio frequency sensors to provide range data to the LaWS. When the Phalanx acquired the UAV, the LaWS destroyed the target.

"The Raytheon-Navy team is moving directed energy solutions toward utility in the battlespace to provide warfighters with speed-of-light protection," said Lawrence. "This shoot down leverages the significant investment the Navy has made in the Phalanx Close-in Weapon System and extends its combat-proven leadership in close-in defense systems."

The Question is not "Can Phalanx take down Brahmos?" but it is "How many Brahmos can Phalanx take down?"

How many targets will it be able to engage? How can it perform against the Mach 3+ targets while recharging simultaneously? Can it differentiate enemy targets & native/friendly aircrafts? These questions appear to be with negative answer at this point of time.

Also right now Phalanx laser system is considered to be last wall of defense. So its range is limited. At such a low ranged terminal interception, even the fragments of supersonic missile (MACH 3+) possess very high kinetic energy to cause severe damage.

Now I see why PN is interested in Phalanx Close-in Weapon System Block 1B :happy_8:

may be they are pursuing them for OHPs as no specifications of refurbished OHPs are out yet....

The government of Pakistan also requested a possible foreign military sale of six Phalanx close-in weapon systems, upgrade of six Phalanx Block 0 to Block 1B, spare and repair parts, modification kits, supply and support equipment, personnel training and training equipment, publications, and technical data. Pakistan will use the Phalanx weapon systems to protect its Navy's ships against inbound aircraft, missiles and surface craft. Moreover, Block 1B is requested because Block 0 configuration is no longer supportable by the US Navy logistics system. The total cost of this sale, including options, is $155 million.